Federal Jury Convicts Sampson County Man Who Was a Member of a Drug Trafficking Organization

RALEIGH – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that, GREG BRIGHT, 32, of Turkey, NC, was convicted in federal court following a three day jury trial before Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever III.  The jury found BRIGHT guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base (crack).

The investigation giving rise to the charges faced at trial began in 2013. Multiple and extensive investigative techniques were utilized throughout this case.  The evidence presented at trial detailed a significant drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) that was built and lead by Antonio McKoy who was convicted by a jury on May 30, 2018.  The DTO was responsible for supplying large quantities of cocaine and cocaine base (crack) in Eastern North Carolina.  The investigation resulted in the conviction of twenty-five members of the McKoy drug trafficking organization that destroyed the quality of life in the small community of Garland in Sampson County.

The case is a federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) criminal matter being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Probation Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the North Carolina Departments of Revenue and Emergency Management.  Assistant United States Attorneys Brad Knott and Toby Lathan prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.